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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carol who wrote (17852)	2/28/1998 7:34:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Carol, here a couple on interesting exerps which describe the main reason there are so many homeless in San Francisco. They are a few years old but illustrates an important point... -- San Francisco's apartment vacancy rate has descended to a microscopic 1.8 percent, the lowest rate in the United States. A "tent city" for homeless people was set up in the Tenderloin district, and every night 175 people sleep in Civic Center Plaza. The homeless population, estimated at 6,000, is one of the largest in the nation. San Francisco has had rent control since 1979. The antidevelopment ethos is so strong that the city allows the equivalent of only one office building to be constructed each year. In 1989, when he announced a $16 million master plan for dealing with home- lessness, Mayor Art Agnos said that the problem was caused by federal budget cuts. -- In 1987 alone there were 24 no-growth referendums on municipal ballots in California, 20 of which were passed. After the 1988 elections proponents of no growth started to plan a statewide strategy. Some California residents have been too restless to wait. In Redwood City, south of San Francisco, vigilantes burned down the single-family homes under construction at 20 sites, causing $2 million worth of damage, shortly after the city council lifted a two-year building moratorium. Home prices in California, which were at the national median in 1970, have risen to almost twice that figure since then. -- When the recession of the early 1980s pushed San Diego's vacancy rate down to 4 percent, housing activists put rent control on the ballot. For the second time in eight years San Diego voters turned it down, by a resounding 2 to 1 margin. Developers responded by launching an apartment construction boom that within two years had pushed the vacancy rate back up to more than 6 percent and raised the rate of vacancies in inexpensive apartments from 1.8 percent to 3.3 percent. The city also reinterpreted its zoning ordinance to permit the operation of hotels made up of "living units," each of which was to consist of a single room with a shared bath or kitchen. Developers responded by building six of the newly authorized hotels, significantly reducing homeless- ness. "I'd say the most important thing we've done in pro- viding housing for the poor is to not alienate the development community," said Frank Landerville, director of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless. "Builders are still enthusiastic about San Diego, and that provides housing at all income levels." As a result, the city's rate of homelessness has been one of the lowest in California. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ This is just more evidence of the cause and effect relationship between environmental extremists bent on preventing development, and the destructive effects those policies can have on the poorest of the poor. To me, careing about the poor means thinking about these interelationships. Overeaching, environmental policies have contributed to a large degree to the homeless problem. Something environmental zealots would rather ignore. Michael

To: Carol who wrote (17852)	2/28/1998 7:51:00 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

BILL GATES JOKE HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, okay, I am a very bad thread hostess. With every intention of hanging out here this afternoon, I once again got sucked up into that nasty and fun political discussion over at Boinking instead. I have lots to say about the homeless and several other burning issues, but right now I have to go and watch the Antiques Roadshow, which I missed on Monday night. So I leave everyone with a joke. Excuse me if I am the last person on earth to hear this one--I don't get out much. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What did Bill Gates' wife say to him after the first time they had sex? Now I know why you called your company Microsoft!!!!!!!!

To: Carol who wrote (17852)	3/2/1998 12:39:00 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Carol, I would agree with you that illiteracy is, at best, a very minor factor in homelessness. I looked homelessness up on the web and found this url about the causes, if you are interested: hshmission.org While illiteracy is a minor contributing factor in some cases, along with a lot of others, substance abuse and mental illness are the primary causes. Homelessness is not really solved simply by providing housing, because unless you plan to subsidize these people in every way, of which housing is only a start, you diminish suffering to some degree but do not solve the major problems. Comprehensive treatment for their mental illnesses, and substance abuse treatment, are vital. Of course these require fairly large, coordinated governmental interventions in order to succeed. It is naive at best to believe that allowing private businessmen to provide substandard housing is going to make much difference. Tonight I watched 60 Minutes, which had a segment about young homosexuals and their parents. Interestingly enough, they cited statistics that thirty percent of teenaged suicides are of young gay people, and that one quarter of parents of children who reveal that they are gay have parents who immediately order them to leave home. Many of San Francisco's homeless people are gay teenagers from other, more conservative and less enlightened places in America where parents believe homosexuality is a sin, and reject their own children. This is impossible for me to even imagine, but still prevalent. Even the Pope is encouraging parents to love and accept their gay children. It's amazing to me how quickly some "Christians" are to pass judgment, while their understanding of homosexuality is based absolutely on total ignorance of the genetic and early developmental components, and how unlike Christ they are in their attitudes of judgmental nonacceptance. This prejudice causes so many children to die, or live miserable lives filled with self hatred, and it is pathetic. I think the Indians are in another category of despair. The entire spirit of a people was broken, very deliberately, and also Indians (and Irish) have been found to have a genetic susceptibility to alcoholism. The news I have read about Indians lately is very good, however. Young Indian activists are becoming more highly educated, and fighting for the rights of their tribes. It's about time!! This is local California news, but I have been reading of much the same thing in Canada: sfgate.com P.S. A really lovely and thought-provoking poem about computers (and fish). Thanks a lot for sharing it here. Chrissy